Prioritization of Items for Delivery

ABSTRACT

Customers may place orders for items for delivery, where merchants provide the items, and a service provider receives the orders and facilitates the delivery of the items. Upon receiving multiple orders, the orders may be prioritized based on users scores associated with users that placed the orders. An order objective for the orders may be determined and multiple fulfillment plans for each order may be generated. For a particular order, a fulfillment plan of the multiple fulfillment plans may be selected based on the order objective for that order, where the selected fulfillment plan may govern how and when the items included in the order are to be delivered to the user that placed the order. The service provider may cause the items associated with the order to be delivered to the user pursuant to the selected fulfillment plan.

BACKGROUND

In addition to selling items (e.g., products, services, etc.) at aphysical location, merchants may also deliver such items to consumers.Typically, merchants will deliver items to consumers on a first come,first served basis, meaning that items will be delivered based on whenthe corresponding orders are received. For instance, if a first userorders a first item from a merchant for delivery at a first time, and asecond user orders a second item from the merchant for delivery at asecond, subsequent time, the merchant will typically first deliver thefirst item, and then subsequently deliver the second item. Moreover,some deliveries may run late due to a variety of reasons, such asdeliverer capacity, traffic, weather, etc., some of which may bepredictable and avoidable. As a result, current systems configured fordelivering items to consumers may result in a poor consumer experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingfigures, in which the left-most digit of a reference number identifiesthe figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of thesame reference numbers in the same or different figures indicatessimilar or identical items or features.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example system for prioritizing itemdelivery and maximizing the likelihood that items are delivered on time.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example system for facilitating thedelivery of items to consumers.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example system for prioritizing itemdelivery and maximizing the likelihood that items are delivered on time.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing example factors that are considered withrespect to the delivery of items to consumers.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing an example process of prioritizing itemdelivery and maximizing the likelihood that items are delivered on time.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing an example process of creatingfulfillment plans for the delivery of items and updating fulfillmentplans over time.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing an example process of updating ordersfor items to be delivered to consumers based at least partly on scoresassociated with the consumers.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram showing an example process of providing scoresassociated with consumers to merchants that fulfill orders for thedelivery of items.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure describes systems and processes for prioritizing ordersfor item delivery and maximizing a likelihood that items are to bedelivered on time. More particularly, the systems and processesdescribed herein may generate, maintain, and update user scores for aplurality of users. The user scores may dictate how orders for thedelivery of items are prioritized with respect to other orders. A userscore for a particular user may be based on a multitude of factors, suchas prior orders of the user (e.g., number or prior orders, typical ordersize, amount spent, etc.), whether the user participates in a loyaltyprogram, whether the user is a first-time customer, reviews previouslyprovided by the user, and so on. The user scores for users may beupdated over time as the users continue to place orders for the deliveryof items.

In some embodiments, a service provider may receive, from user devicesassociated with users, orders for the delivery of items, where the itemsare provided by merchants (also referred to as “third-party merchants”).That is, although an order is placed with the service provider, theitems included within the order may be fulfilled by (i.e., provided by)a merchant, and the service provider may deliver the items to the userthat placed the order. Upon receiving the order, the service providermay prioritize the order and other previously received orders based onthe user scores associated with the users that submitted the orders.Since a user score may indicate users that have previously done businesswith the service provider and/or users in which the service providerwould like to make a favorable impression, the service provider mayprioritize certain orders to maximize the likelihood that the items willbe delivered on time.

For individual ones of the prioritized orders, and possibly for eachorder, the service provider may generate one or multiple fulfillmentplans for the orders. A particular fulfillment plan may specify how andwhen the item(s) for an order are to be delivered to the user thatsubmitted the order. For instance, each fulfillment plan may indicatethe merchant that is to fulfill the order (e.g., the merchant that is toprovide the item(s)), a time in which the merchant should beginpreparing the item(s), a time in which the item(s) are scheduled to bepicked up, the entity that is to deliver the item(s) to the user, atransportation type of the deliverer (e.g., car, bicycle, walking,unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), etc.), the physical location where theitem(s) are to be delivered, the route in which the deliver is to taketo deliver the item(s), and so on. The details of each fulfillment planfor a particular order may vary, such that fulfillment plans may havedifferent pick-up times, deliverers, transportation types, routes, etc.One of the fulfillment plans for the order may be selected based on theobjective of the order, and the selected fulfillment plan may beutilized to deliver the item(s) to the user. In some embodiments, orderobjectives may include minimizing the delivery time of the item(s) ormaximizing the likelihood that the item(s) are delivered within the timespecified to the user (e.g., an estimated delivery time).

After selecting a fulfillment plan that is to be used to deliver item(s)of an order, the fulfillment plans for other orders may be updated. Forinstance, provided that the selected fulfillment plan utilized aresource (e.g., a deliverer) that was also part of a second fulfillmentplan for a second order, the second fulfillment plan may have to beupdated, or possibly nullified. That is, if the item(s) for the orderare currently being delivered by a particular driver, the item(s)associated with the second order could not be delivered by the samedriver at the same time. Therefore, a different fulfillment plan for thesecond order may have to be utilized in order to deliver the item(s)relating to the second order. In addition, as the service providerreceives additional orders, the service provider may re-prioritize theorders based on the user scores for the previously received orders andthe user scores associated with users that placed the newly receivedorders.

In some embodiments, the user scores of users may be shared withmerchants that provide the items for delivery. For instance, the userscores of users that exceed a threshold may be shared with merchants.Since a higher user score for a user may indicate that the user is abetter/top customer, or that the user should be favored over othercustomers, providing the user score to the merchant may allow themerchant to provide better service and an overall better customerexperience for that user.

This brief introduction, including section titles and correspondingsummaries, is provided for the reader's convenience and is not intendedto limit the scope of the claims, nor the proceeding sections.Furthermore, the techniques described above and below may be implementedin a number of ways and in a number of contexts. Several exampleimplementations and contexts are provided with reference to thefollowing figures, as described below in more detail. However, thefollowing implementations and contexts are but a few of many.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 for prioritizing orders basedon user scores of users that submitted the orders, and maximizing thelikelihood that items are to be delivered on time. That is, the system100 may provide preferential treatment to certain users that have placedorders for item delivery. More particularly, the system 100 may includea service provider 102, one or more network(s) 104, one or more users106, one or more user devices 108 associated with the users 106, one ormore merchants 110, and one or more merchant devices 112 associated withthe merchants 110. As shown, the service provider 102 may include one ormore content server(s) 114, which may include one or more processor(s)116 and computer-readable media 118.

In various embodiments, the service provider 102 may offer items (e.g.,products, services, etc.) to users 106 via an electronic marketplace(e.g., a website) associated with the service provider 102. That is, theusers 106 may access the electronic marketplace via corresponding userdevices 108 for the purpose of searching for, viewing, selecting,acquiring (e.g., purchasing, leasing, renting, borrowing, lending,etc.), etc., items. The items may be provided directly by the serviceprovider 102, or may be provided by the service provider 102 on behalfof a different entity, such as the merchants 110. In addition, users 106may place orders to acquire items for delivery, meaning that a user 106may submit an order and indicate that he/she would like thecorresponding item(s) delivered to a physical location associated withthe user 106 (e.g., a personal residence, a place of business, etc.).Delivery of the item(s) may be performed by either the service provider102 or the merchants 106. For instance, the service provider 102 mayreceive the order, a merchant 110 may provide the item(s) relating tothe order, and the service provider 102 may facilitate delivery of theitem(s) to the user 106. That is, the service provider 102 may provideaccess to a centralized service that receives orders for the purchaseand delivery of items, the service provider 102 may cause merchants 110to fulfill the orders by providing the associated items, and then anindividual or entity associated with the service provider 102 (or athird party) may deliver the requested items to users 106.

For the purpose of this discussion, the service provider 102 may be anyentity, server(s), platform, etc., that offers items (e.g., products,services, etc.) for acquisition to consumers. For example, the serviceprovider 102 may be associated with an electronic or merchantmarketplace (e.g., a website) that allows consumers to search, browse,view and/or acquire (i.e., purchase, rent, lease, borrow, etc.) items ordeals offered for sale directly by the service provider 102 or offeredfor sale by the service provider 102 on behalf of merchants 110 and/orother entities. The service provider 102 may also obtain/receive andmaintain information, interests, preferences, etc., about the merchants110, actual or potential customers (i.e., users 106), etc., for thepurpose of presenting the most relevant items, deals, advertisements,etc., to users 106 at an appropriate time. The service provider 102 mayalso be associated with a plurality of entities or individuals, whichmay be referred to as “deliverers,” that physically deliver the items tousers 106.

As shown in FIG. 1, a user 106 may place an order 116 using acorresponding user device 108. In particular, the order 116 may berepresentative of the user acquiring (i.e., purchasing) one or moreitems from the service provider 102 via an electronic marketplace (e.g.,a website). The user 106 may also indicate that he/she would like theitem(s) to be delivered to the user 106. In some embodiments, althoughthe items may be any product or service, and the merchant 110 mayinclude any type of merchant 110, the order 116 may relate to food/drinkitems that will be fulfilled by a restaurant merchant 110. That is, theuser 106 may place an order 116 with the service provider 102 to deliverfood prepared by a particular restaurant.

In response to receiving the order 116 from the user 106, the serviceprovider 102 may aggregate the order 116 with other previously receivedorders 116, which may include orders 116 for the delivery of items to befulfilled by various merchants 110. For example, the aggregated orders116 may be included in an order queue that includes items that are to befulfilled by merchants 110 and delivered to customers. The serviceprovider 102 may generate, maintain, and update user scores 118 forvarious users 106, such as the users 106 that placed the orders 116. Aswill be discussed in additional detail herein, the user score 118 for aparticular user 106 may be based on many different factors, which mayinclude previous orders 116 made by the user 106, whether the user 106is a first-time customer, tipping history of the user 106, participationin loyalty programs or subscription-based services, an extent to whichthe user has viewed, selected, searched for, and/or acquired (e.g.,purchased, rented, leased, borrowed, etc.), items (e.g., products,services, etc.) offered by the service provider 102, and so on.Therefore, a higher user score 118 for a user 106 may represent that theuser 106 is a better/top customer, or that the user 106 should befavored or preferred in some manner. For example, a user 106 with ahigher user score 118 may be a repeat customer or a customer that does alot of business with the service provider 102. As a result, and toreward top customers, such customers may receive favorable and/orpreferential treatment regarding the delivery of items ordered via theservice provider 102.

Based on the user scores 118 for the users 106 that have placed theorders 116 with the service provider 102, the service provider 102 mayprioritize the orders (e.g., prioritized orders 120) within the orderqueue. That is, the service provider 102 may assign a higher priority toorders 116 from users 106 that have higher user scores 118. The serviceprovider 102 may want to ensure that such orders 116 are delivered asfast as possible, or are delivered on time (e.g., by a certain time,within a specified time duration, etc.). The service provider 102 maywant to ensure that good/top customers and new customers receive apositive customer experience, which will likely increase the likelihoodthat such customers would make subsequent orders 116 with the serviceprovider 102. That is, the service provider 102 may want to reward topcustomers by reducing latency for items 126 ordered for delivery, and tomake a great first impression on first time customers.

After prioritizing the orders 116, the service provider 102 may generateone or multiple fulfillment plans 122 for one or more of the prioritizedorders 120. For instance, for a particular order 116, the serviceprovider 102 may generate multiple fulfillment plans 122, where eachfulfillment plan 122 specifies how and when the items associated withthe order 116 are to be delivered to the user 106 that placed the order116. As will be discussed in additional detail herein, the fulfillmentplans 122 may vary and specify the merchant 110 that is to fulfill theorder 116, the time in which the item is to be provided by the merchant110, an identity of who is to deliver the item (i.e., the deliverer),the route that the deliverer will take to deliver the item, and so on.Based on a variety of factors, one of the multiple fulfillment plans 122may be selected and used to deliver the item. After selecting afulfillment plan 122 for an order 116, the service provider 102 mayprovide order instructions 124 to the merchant 110 (e.g., a merchantdevice associated with the merchant 110) that is to fulfill the order116, meaning the merchant 110 that is to provide the items that areincluded in the order 116. The order instructions 124 may identify items126 to be provided by the merchant 110, a time in which the merchant 110is to begin preparing the items 126, a time in which the items 126 arescheduled to be picked up by the deliverer, a time in which the items126 should be delivered to the user 106, and so on. Pursuant to theorder instructions 124, the merchant 110 may provide the items 126 tothe deliverer that is to deliver the items 126 to the user 106 thatplaced the order 116. In some embodiments, the service provider 102 mayhave at least some control over how the merchant 110 prepares andprovides the items 116.

The service provider 102 may then deliver the items 126 to the user 106(e.g., item delivery 128) pursuant to the selected fulfillment plan 122for that order 116. More particularly, prior to the deliverer picking upthe items 126 provided by the merchant 110, the service provider 102 mayprovide delivery instructions to the deliverer (e.g., a deliverer deviceassociated with the deliverer), which are likely to be included in theselected fulfillment plan 122. The delivery instructions may include anidentity of the merchant 110 that is to fulfill the order 116, alocation to pick up the items 126 (e.g., a physical location of themerchant 110), an identity and/or contact information (e.g., telephonenumber, e-mail address, etc.) of the user 106 that placed the order 116,a physical location in which to deliver the items 126 to the user 106, aroute/directions that should be used to travel to the physical locationof the user 106, one or more alternate routes, and so on. Anycommunications between the service provider 102, the users 106, themerchants 110, and/or the deliverer may occur via the network(s) 104,which will be discussed in additional detail with respect to FIG. 2.

Therefore, although the items 126 included in the order 116 may beprovided by a merchant 106, the service provider 102 may have controlover the process in which users 106 submit orders 116 and the process inwhich the items 126 included in the order 116 are delivered to the users106 that placed the orders 116. The service provider 102 receives theorders 116, prioritizes the orders 116 based on users scores 118associated with the users 106 that placed the orders 116, determineswhen and how the items 126 are to be delivered, informs the users 106 ofwhen to expect delivery of the items 126 (e.g., an estimated deliverytime), causes the merchants 110 to prepare and/or provide the items 126,and instructs deliverers how and when to deliver the items 126.

In some embodiments, the items 126 that are delivered to users 106correspond to local items 126 provided by local merchants 110. Inparticular, the items 126 that are delivered via the service provider102 are provided by merchants 110 that are within a predetermineddistance (e.g., 1 mile, 5 miles, 10 miles, etc.) of the recipient of theitems 126. That is, the physical location of the merchant 110 that ispreparing or providing the items 128 is within a predetermined distanceof the physical location of the user 106 that placed the order 116, andthe deliverer physically transports the items 126 from the physicallocation of the merchant 110 to the physical location of the user 106via automobile, bicycle, on foot, etc. An example of local delivery mayinclude food delivery, where a user 106 orders, via the service provider102, food from his/her favorite restaurant to be delivered to his/herhome. Another example may include a user 106 ordering an appliance(e.g., a refrigerator, washer/dryer, etc.) from a local appliance store.The user 106 may place the order via the service provider 102, and thelocal appliance store provides the appliance to the deliverer fordelivery to the user 106. Although many examples exist, an additionalexample may include the delivery of lumber (or other constructionmaterials) to a construction site. A foreman of a construction companymay order lumber from a local lumberyard, which then provides the lumberto a deliverer associated with the service provider 102 that deliversthe lumber to the construction site. In the latter two examples (e.g.,appliance and lumber), due to the size and/or weight of the items 128,the items 128 may be delivered to the user 106 via car or truck.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system 200 for facilitating the deliveryof items to users 106 that placed orders 116 via the service provider102. As shown, the system 200 may include the service provider 102, thenetwork(s) 104, the users 106, the user devices 108 associated with theusers 106, the merchants 110, the merchant devices 112 associated withthe merchants 110, and the content server(s) 114 of the service provider102. Moreover, the content server(s) 114 may include one or moreprocessor(s) 202, one or more computer-readable media 204, and one ormore modules 206 stored by the computer-readable media 204.

In some embodiments, the service provider 102 may be a centralizedservice (e.g., a website) that receives orders 116 for items 126 frommerchants 110, and facilitates the delivery of the items 126 to users106 that placed the orders 116. Moreover, the network(s) 104 may be anytype of network known in the art, such as the Internet. Moreover, theservice provider 102, the users 106, the merchants 110, and/or thedeliverers may communicatively couple to the network(s) 104 in anymanner, such as by a wired or wireless connection. The network(s) 104may facilitate communication between the content servers 114, the userdevices 108 associated with the users 106, and/or the merchant devices112 associated with the merchants 110.

In some embodiments, the users 106 may operate corresponding userdevices 108 to perform various functions associated with the userdevices 108, which may also include one or more processor(s),computer-readable media, and a display. Furthermore, the users 106 mayutilize the user devices 108 to browse, search, view, acquire, etc.,items offered for sale by the service provider 102 and/or the merchants110. The users 106 may also use the user devices 106 to place orders 116for the delivery of items 126 from the merchants 110, where delivery ofthe items 126 is performed by the service provider 102. The items may beoffered to the users 106 in any manner, such as via a site (e.g., awebsite), an e-mail message, an application associated with a userdevice 108, a text message, a telephone call, a social network, or anyother manner.

In various embodiments, the one or more merchants 110 may be anyindividual or entity that is a source or a distributor of items (e.g.,products, services, etc.). For example, the merchants 110 may includeentities (e.g., restaurants) that provide products or services (e.g.,food items, drink items, etc.) to consumers, which may be offered orpromoted directly by the merchants 110 or by the service provider 102 onbehalf of the merchants 110. The merchants 110 may also offer thoseitems via a physical location (e.g., a brick-and-mortar store) or amerchant-branded merchant site (e.g., website). The merchants 110 mayprovide items to the users 106 with the assistance of one or moremerchant devices 112, which may include any type of device (e.g., alaptop computer, a tablet device, a mobile telephone, etc.), and whichmay include one or more processor(s), computer-readable media, and adisplay. Moreover, the merchants 110 may interact with the serviceprovider 102 via a site (i.e., a website), a self-service merchantportal, a self-service interface, or in any other manner.

Moreover, and as shown, the service provider 102 may include one or morecontent servers 114, which may include the one or more processors 202and the computer-readable media 204. The computer-readable media 204 mayinclude, or be associated with the one or more modules 206 that performvarious operations associated with the service provider 102 and/or thecontent server(s) 114. In some embodiments, the one or more modules 206may include or be associated with computer-executable instructions thatare stored by the computer-readable 204 and that are executable by theprocessor(s) 202 to perform such operations. The content servers 114 mayalso include additional components not listed above that may perform anyfunction associated with the content servers 114. In variousembodiments, each of the content servers 114 may be any type of server,such as a network-accessible server.

In various embodiments, the processor(s) 202 may execute one or moremodules and/or processes to cause the content servers 114 to perform avariety of functions, as set forth above and explained in further detailin the following disclosure. In some embodiments, the processor(s) 202may include a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), both CPU and GPU, or other processing units or components knownin the art. Additionally, each of the processor(s) 202 may possess itsown local memory, which also may store program modules, program data,and/or one or more operating systems. Depending on the exactconfiguration and type of the content servers 114, the computer-readablemedia 204 may include volatile memory (such as RAM), non-volatile memory(such as ROM, flash memory, miniature hard drive, memory card, or thelike), or some combination thereof. The computer-readable media 204 maybe non-transitory computer-readable media 204.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example system 300 that facilitates theprioritization of orders and the delivery of corresponding items tousers that placed the orders. In particular, the system 300 may includethe service provider 102 and the associated content server(s) 114, auser 106 and a corresponding user device 108, and a merchant 110. Thecontent server(s) 114 may store various modules 206 that will bediscussed in additional detail with respect to FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, a user score module 302 may generate, maintain,and/or update user scores 118 for the user 106 and other users 106.Although discussed in additional detail regarding FIG. 4, the userscores 118 may be based on one or more user score factors 304. Such userscore factors 304 may include previous orders 116 of the user 106, suchas the number of previous orders 116, the frequency of the orders 116,typical order size (e.g., one item, five items, etc.), the amount spenton individual orders or as a whole, and so on. The user scores 118 mayalso be based on the extent to which users 106 have viewed, selected,searched for, acquired (e.g., purchased, leased, rented, borrowed, etc.)items (e.g., products, services, etc.) offered for sale by the serviceprovider 102 via an electronic marketplace, such as a website associatedwith the service provider 102. Other user score factors 304 may includewhether the user 106 is a first time customer, whether the userparticipates in loyalty programs or subscription-based servicesassociated with the service provider 102, tipping history, reviewsprovided by the user 106, among other factors.

In various embodiments, the user score 118 for the user 106 may be avalue that indicates whether that user 106 is to receive preferential orfavorable treatment. For instance, users 106 that repeatedly purchaseitems 126 from the service provider 102, spend a significant amount ofmoney, provide helpful reviews, interact with the service provider 102on an ongoing basis, participate in loyalty programs or receivesubscription-based services associated with the service provider 102,etc., are likely to be more valued customers from the perspective of theservice provider 102, and are likely to have a higher user score 118.Since such customers are likely to be repeat customers, the serviceprovider 102 may desire to provide those customers with exceptionalcustomer service. The service provider 102 may also strive to make afavorable impression on new customers, such as first-time customers thathave yet to engage with (e.g., acquire items from) the service provider102. As users 106 continue to interact with the service provider 102(e.g., acquire items, place orders 116, submit reviews, etc.), the userscores 118 for those users may increase or decrease over time.

As shown, the user 106, via his/her user device 108, may submit or placean order 116 with the service provider 102. For instance, the user 106may place an order 116 for food items (e.g., Thai food) that are to beprovided (e.g., prepared or cooked) by a merchant 110 (e.g., a Thairestaurant) and that will be delivered by the service provider 102. Theuser 106 may make the order using his/her user device 108 and via awebsite or an application that is associated with the service provider102 and that resides on the user device 108. In the above scenario, theuser 106 may be ordering Thai food for dinner for delivery to his/herfamily, where the Thai food may be prepared by his/her favorite Thairestaurant but delivered by an individual associated with the serviceprovider 102. The user 106 may also be an individual representing anentity (e.g., a corporation). For instance, the order 116 may relate toa restaurant catering an event, where the service provider 102 willdeliver the food to the location in which the event is taking place.

The user 106 may be an individual that has a user account or a userprofile with the service provider 102. Moreover, for the purposes ofthis discussion, the terms “user”, “user profile,” and “user account”may be used interchangeably, and the user 106, the user profile, and/orthe user account may be associated with one or more user devices 108.Moreover, multiple user profiles may be associated with a single useraccount (e.g., an adult user profile, a teen user profile, a child userprofile, etc.).

The order 116 placed by the user 106 may be received by an orderreception module 306. Upon receiving the order 116, the order receptionmodule 306 may notify the user 106 of the expected/estimated deliverytime. The expected delivery time may be an estimated time when the items126 included in the order 116 are expected to be delivered (e.g., 5:00pm), a time duration in which the items 126 are expected to be deliveredwithin (5:00-5:30 pm), an amount of time from the time of the order 116(e.g., 45 minutes), or a particular time in which the user 104 shouldreceive the items 126 (e.g., no later than 5:30 pm). The orders 116 maybe included within an order queue 308 that stores orders 116 previouslyreceived by the service provider 102 from various users 106. Each of theorders 106 may correspond to items 126 purchased by a particular user106, where the items 126 are to be provided by a merchant 110 anddelivered by the service provider 102.

In certain embodiments, the orders 116 within the order queue 308 may bebatched based on when the orders 116 were received. In particular,orders 116 received within a particular interval (e.g., 5 minutes, 15minutes, etc.) may be included within the same batch or group. Moreover,a batch may be based on the estimated delivery time or an estimatedwindow in which delivery of the items 126 was promised. In thisscenario, orders 116 that have estimated delivery times that are withina particular interval or time duration (e.g., 15 minutes) may be batchedtogether. In other embodiments, however, the orders 116 within the orderqueue 308 need not be batched.

An order prioritization module 310 of the content server(s) 114 mayprioritize the orders 116 within the order queue 308. More particularly,the orders 116 may be prioritized (i.e., prioritized orders 312) basedon the user scores 118 for the users 106 that submitted the orders 116.The order prioritization module 310 may prioritize orders 116 withineach batch, or may prioritize each of the orders 116 within the orderqueue 308 with respect to one another. In some embodiments, a firstorder 116 associated with a first user 106 having a higher user score116 may be prioritized over a second order 116 associated with a seconduser 106 that has a lower user score 118. In this scenario, although thesecond order 116 may have been received prior to the first order 116,the service provider 102 may determine that the first order 116 shouldreceive preferential treatment. For instance, the first user 106 may bea first-time user customer or the first user 106 may be a customer thatfrequently purchases items from the service provider 102. As a result,since the first user 106 is considered to be a good/top customer, theservice provider 102 may want to deliver items 126 to the first user 106as soon as possible or at least maximize the likelihood that the items126 will be delivered to the first user 106 on time (e.g., within thedelivery window).

In some embodiments, certain orders 116 within the order queue 308 maybe downgraded or de-prioritized, which may be based on the particularusers 106 that placed the orders 116. For example, if a user 106 thatplaced an order 116 is not likely to be a repeat customer (i.e., aone-time customer), typically requests a refund, has a poor tippinghistory (e.g., typically tips a low amount, or not at all), typicallyusers promotions or coupons to receive discounts or additional items atno cost, etc., the user 106 may have a relatively low user score 118 andthe order prioritization module 310 may de-prioritize orders 116 placedby that user 106. That is, since the service provider 102 may notconsider the user 106 to be one of its better customers, the serviceprovider 102 may instead prioritize orders 116 from other users 116.Although the service provider 102 may still strive to timely deliveritems 126 to that user 106, the service provider 102 may value otherorders 116 more highly and seek to ensure that those other orders 116are delivered in a timely manner.

Moreover, as additional orders 116 are received and added to the orderqueue 308, the order prioritization module 310 may continue toprioritize the orders 116 based at least partly on the user scores 118associated with the users 106 that placed the additional orders 116.Provided that the orders 116 are batched within the order queue 308, asadditional orders 116 are received within the time interval associatedwith a batch, the orders 116 within that batch may be prioritized. As aresult, a new order 116 from a user 106 having a high user score 118 maybe placed ahead of a previously received order 116 from a user 106having a lower user score 118. If the orders 116 within the order queue308 are not batched, the previously received orders 116 may beprioritized and ordered with the newly received orders 116. Although theservice provider 102 may make additional efforts to delivery highlyranked orders 116 in a timely manner, the service provider 102 may alsostrive to deliver all other orders 116 within the specified time periodprovided to users 106.

Upon receiving and prioritizing orders 116 received from users 106, anorder objective module 314 may determine an order objective 316 forindividual ones of the prioritized orders 312. The order objective 316for a particular order 116 may represent a goal or objective associatingwith delivery of the item(s) 126 included in the order 116 to the user106 that placed the order 116. For instance, an order objective 316 maybe to minimize the amount of time it takes to deliver the item(s) 126associated with the order 118. That is, the order objective 316 may beto minimize the amount of time between receiving the order 116 anddelivering the item(s) 126 included in the order 116 to the user 106. Adifferent order objective 316 may be to maximize the probability orlikelihood of satisfying a delivery promise made to the user 106 whenthe user 106 placed the order 116. In other words, the order objective316 may be to maximize the likelihood that the item(s) 126 included inthe order 116 are delivered within a delivery window provided to theuser 106 (e.g., 5:30-6:30 pm), or to maximize the likelihood that theitem(s) 126 are delivered by a particular time (e.g., 5:00 pm). In thisembodiment, the item(s) 126 may not be delivered as soon as possible,but the likelihood that the item(s) 126 will be delivered to user 106 ina timely manner is maximized or increased. A different order objective316 may be to maximize the utilization of individuals that deliver theitem(s) 126 (i.e., the deliverers). That is, the service provider 102may attempt to minimize the amount of time that the deliverers are onduty but are not delivering item(s) 126.

Based at least partly on the particular order objective 316, afulfillment plan module 318 may generate, maintain, and/or update one ormore fulfillment plans 122 for previously received orders 116 includedwithin the order queue 308. For the purposes of this discussion, afulfillment plan 122 for an order 116 may correspond to various types ofinformation that indicate how and when the item(s) 126 associated withthe order 116 are to be delivered to the user 106 that placed the order116. Moreover, the fulfillment plan module 318 may generate multiplefulfillment plans 122 for a particular order 116 that vary with respectto one another. For instance, different fulfillment plans 122 may varywith respect to a time in which the merchant 110 is to begin preparingthe items 126 (e.g., food items), a time in which the items 126 are tobe picked up by the deliverer, the identity of the deliverer that is todeliver the items 126, the type of transportation used (e.g., car,bicycle, on foot, etc.), the route used to deliver the items 126, and soon. Therefore, although each fulfillment plan 122 for an order 116 maydeliver the items 126 to the user 106 in a timely manner, eachfulfillment plan 122 may deliver the items 126 in a different manner,and possibly at different times.

In various embodiments, and as described in additional detail withrespect to FIG. 4, the fulfillment plans 122 may be generated based onone or more fulfillment plan factors 340. Such fulfillment plan factors320 may include information about the user 106 that placed the order126, the order 116 itself (e.g., items 126 ordered, types of items 126,preparation time, number of items 126, etc.), information about themerchant 110 that is to provide the items 126 (e.g., a merchant score,reliability/accuracy, reviews, item latency, etc.), the deliverer (e.g.,a deliver score, deliverer availability, reliability/accuracy, etc.),and/or various extraneous factors (e.g., time of day, physical distancebetween the merchant 110 and the user 106, weather conditions, trafficconditions, transportation type, etc.). The fulfillment plans 122 may bebased on, or include, these fulfillment plan factors 320.

After generating multiple fulfillment plans 122 for a particular order116, a selection module 322 may select one of the multiple fulfillmentplans 122. The selected fulfillment plan 324 may be used to execute thedelivery of the items 126 included in the order 116. The selectedfulfillment plan 324 may be based at least partly on the order objective316 determined for that order 116. For instance, the fulfillment plan122 that is selected may be the fulfillment plan 122 that has thefastest delivery time, the fulfillment plan 122 that maximizes thelikelihood that the items 126 will be delivered on time to the user 106,the fulfillment plan 122 that maximizes the use of various resources(e.g., use of deliverers), or the fulfillment plan 122 that utilizesresources that are currently available.

As stated above, the selected fulfillment plan 324 for a particularorder 116 may be based on the order objective 316 determined for thatorder 116. For instance, provided that the order objective 316 for theorder 116 is to minimize the delivery time of the items 126 included inthe order 116, the service provider 102 may receive the orders 116,prioritize the orders 116 based at least partly on the user scores 118of the users 106 that placed the orders 116, and then generatefulfillment plans 122 for each of the orders 116. For a particular order116, the selection module 322 may select the fulfillment plan 122 thatminimizes the delivery time for that order 116. That is, if the firstfulfillment plan 122 indicates that delivery of the items 126 is likelyto occur 35 minutes after the order 116 was received, and that a secondfulfillment plan 122 indicates that the delivery of the items 126 islikely to occur 45 minutes after receiving the order 116, the selectionmodule 322 may select the first fulfillment plan 122 even though thelikelihood of delivering the items 126 on time for the first fulfillmentplan 122 is lower than that of the second fulfillment plan 122. Theservice provider 102 may then deliver the items 126 pursuant to thefirst fulfillment plan 122 in order to minimize the delivery time, andtherefore satisfy the order objective 316 for that order 116.

In other embodiments, the order objective 316 for an order 116 may be tomaximize the likelihood that the order will be delivered on time (e.g.,within a delivery window or by a specified time provided to the user106). As a result, the service provider 102 may analyze the fulfillmentplans 122 generated for that order 116 to identify factors that couldpotentially influence the delivery time and, therefore, cause thedelivery of the items 126 included in the order 116 to be late. Suchfactors may include the particular deliverer that is scheduled todeliver the items 126, the scheduled route, traffic conditions, the modeof delivering the items 126, and so on. For instance, a deliverer for aparticular fulfillment plan 122 for the order 116 may be moreunreliable, which may be evidenced by the deliverer typically being lateto pick up the items 126 and/or to deliver the items 126. Moreover, theroute for a fulfillment plan 122 may have a shorter distance, but islikely to experience heavier traffic conditions (e.g., driving through adowntown area of a city, as opposed to driving on a highway around thecity). Moreover, in a densely populated area, delivering the items 126by car may generally be the quickest option, but delivering the items126 via bicycle or on foot may be quicker due to varying trafficconditions.

Therefore, although a particular fulfillment plan 122 may not result indelivering the items 126 in the shortest amount of time, thatfulfillment plan 122 may maximize the likelihood that the items 126 aredelivered in a timely manner. In order to reduce the risk of not meetinga promise of delivering items 126 by a certain time, the serviceprovider 102 may favor a more conservative fulfillment plan 122 thatwill still satisfy customer expectations, and avoid fulfillment plans122 that may minimize delivery time but carry significant risk ofdelivering the items 126 late. Using the examples above, the selectionmodule 322 may select a fulfillment plan 122 that uses a more reliabledeliverer, uses a route that will likely avoid heavy traffic conditions(e.g., a highway as opposed to a downtown area that could becomecongested), and/or uses a deliverer that will deliver the items 126 viabicycle, on foot, or via UAV, as opposed to delivering by car, whichcould possibly take more time due to traffic conditions.

Once the selected fulfillment plan 324 is determined and the delivery ofthe items 126 is being executed pursuant to the selected fulfillmentplan 324 (e.g., the order 116 is being fulfilled), the service provider102 may select a fulfillment plan 122 for a subsequent order 116included in the order queue 308. However, since fulfillment plans 122for different orders 116 may share common resources, such as twofulfillment plans 122 utilizing the same deliverer, the fulfillmentplans 122 for the subsequent order 116 may have to be updated, andpossibly nullified. For example, assume that a first fulfillment plan122 selected for a first order 116 included the same deliverer (e.g.,driver) as a second fulfillment plan 122 for a second, lower priorityorder 116. Since that driver is currently being used to deliver item(s)126 for the first order 116 pursuant to the first fulfillment plan 122,that driver is currently unavailable to deliver items 126 for the secondorder 116 pursuant to the second fulfillment plan 122. As a result, thesecond fulfillment plan 122 may be nullified, updated to include adifferent driver, or a different fulfillment plan 122 for the secondorder 116 that uses a different driver may be selected. Alternatively,the second fulfillment plan 122 for the second order 116 may nonethelessbe selected, but delivery of the items 126 for the second order 116 mayhave to wait until the driver is available to deliver those items 126.In an event, the selection module 322 may select a fulfillment plan 122for the second order 116 based at least partly on the order objective316 for the order 116 and/or the resources that are currently available.

Upon determining the selected fulfillment plan 324, an item deliverymodule 326 may facilitate the delivery of the item(s) 126 of an order116 to the user 106 that placed the order 116. More particularly,pursuant to the selected fulfillment plan 324, the item delivery module326 may provide order instructions 124 to the merchant 110 that is tofulfill the order 116, where the order instructions 124 may be receivedvia a merchant device 112 associated with the merchant 106. Forinstance, the order instructions 124 may be received via an e-mailmessage, a text message, a telephone call, a self-service interfaceassociated with the service provider 102 and accessible by the merchant110, an application associated with the service provider 102 andresiding on the merchant device 112, and so on.

In various embodiments, the order instructions 124 may includeinformation that allows the merchant 110 to provide the items 126 suchthat the items 126 can be delivered in a timely manner. Such informationmay include one or more of an identity of the items 126 that themerchant 110 is to provide, a time in which the items 126 are to bepicked up by the deliverer, an identity of the deliverer, and/or adelivery time provided to the user 106. Provided that the order 116 isfor food delivery by a restaurant merchant 110, the order instructions124 may indicate the food items 126 that the restaurant is to prepare, atime in which the restaurant should begin preparing the items 126, atime that the food items 126 should be ready, an identity of thedeliverer that will deliver the food items 126, and/or a time in whichthe user 106 expects delivery of the food items 126. In someembodiments, the merchant 110 may be unable to provide the items 126 atthe time in which the deliverer is scheduled to pick up the items 126.Upon making such a determination, the service provider 102 may informthe user 106 of an updated delivery time or delivery window. Inembodiments where the merchant 110 is responsible for delivering theitems 110, the order information may indicate the items 126 to beprovided by the merchant 110 and the delivery time, and then themerchant 110 would likely have more control over the preparation anddelivery of the items 126.

In addition to providing the order information 124 to the merchant 110,some or all of the order instructions 124 may also be provided to thedeliverer that is scheduled to obtain the items 126 from the merchant110 and deliver the items 126 to the user 106 that placed the order 116.Order information 124 (also referred to “delivery instructions” whenreferencing the deliverer) that may be conveyed to the deliverer mayinclude the identity of the merchant 110 that is providing the items126, the physical location of the merchant 110, the items 126 that arescheduled to be delivered, a time in which to obtain the items 126 fromthe merchant 110, an identity of the user 106 that placed the order 116,a physical location that corresponds to where the items 126 are to bedelivered, a route used to deliver the items 126 from the physicallocation of the merchant 110 to the physical location of the user 106,and/or possibly one or more alternative routes that the deliverer maytake due to traffic conditions, weather, etc. The deliverer may receivethe order instructions via a corresponding deliverer device, such as viaan e-mail message, a text message, a telephone call, an application thatis associated with the service provider 102 and that is resident on thedeliverer device, and/or a self-service interface that is associatedwith the service provider 102 and that is accessible by the deliverervia the deliverer device.

Accordingly, pursuant to the selected fulfillment plan 324 for aparticular order 116, the merchant 110 will provide the items 126included in the order 116 to the deliverer, which may be associated oremployed by the service provider 102. The deliverer may then deliver theitems 126 to the user 106 that initially placed the order via theservice provider 102 (i.e., item delivery 128). That is, the items 126may be delivered to a physical location associated with the user 106,which may include a personal residence, a residence of a friend orfamily member, a place of business, an event venue, and so on. Upondelivering the items 126, the deliverer may confirm delivery of theitems 126 to the service provider 102, such as via his/her correspondingdeliverer device. At a later time, the service provider 102 may requestfeedback from the user 106 regarding the delivery of the order 116,and/or the user 106 may provide feedback, comments, and/or a review forthe service provider 102, the merchant 110, and/or the deliverer.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example diagram 400 that identifies one or morefactors that may be considered to prioritize orders for item deliveryand facilitating delivery of the items pursuant to one or morefulfillment plans. More particularly, the factors illustrated in FIG. 4may indicate how orders 116 submitted by users 106 are to beprioritized. Moreover, after determining which orders 116 should have ahigher priority as compared to other orders 116, the factors may beutilized to generate, maintain, and update fulfillment plans 122 for thepreviously received orders 116, and to select which fulfillment plans122 are to be used to facilitate delivery of the items 126 included inthe orders 126. As shown in FIG. 4, the factors may include userinformation 402, order information 404, extraneous factors 406, merchantinformation 408, and deliverer information 410.

In particular, the user information 402 may include various informationto determine a user score 118 for a user 106 and to determine how toprioritize orders 116 placed by various users 106. As stated above withrespect to FIGS. 1-3, the user score 118 may be a value that indicateshow an order 116 placed by a user 106 should be prioritized amongstother orders 116. That is, a first order 116 placed by a first user 106having a first user score 118 may be prioritized over a second order 116placed by a second user 106 having a second user score 118 that is lowerthan the first user score 118. As a result, the first order 116 may befulfilled and the corresponding items 126 may be delivered prior to thesecond order 116. Moreover, various information associated with aparticular user 106 may be considered when generating and/or updatingthe user score 118 for that user 106.

For instance, the previous orders placed by a user 106 may beconsidered. This information may include the number of orders 116previously placed with the service provider 102 (i.e., number oforders), the frequency in which the orders 116 were placed (i.e., orderfrequency), the typical or average order size (i.e., order size), timesand/or days in which the orders 116 were placed, and/or the amount spenton previous orders 116 (i.e., amount spent). The amount spent mayinclude the amount spent for each particular order 116, the averageamount spent for previous orders 116, and/or the total amount spent forsome or all of the previous orders 116. The extent to which the user 106has placed orders 116 with the service provider 102 may influence theuser score 118 for that user 106. For instance, a user 106 that hasplaced a significant amount of orders 118, has placed orders 118relatively frequently, has typically spent a considerable amount on suchorders 118, etc., may be considered a good/top customer. As a result,that user 106 may receive a relatively high user score 118, andsubsequent orders 118 from that user 106 may be prioritized over orders118 from users 106 that have not had the same level ofinteraction/engagement with the service provider 102. As the user 106continues to place orders 116 with the service provider 102, the userscore 118 may be updated, possibly in real-time or near real-time.

The user information 402 may also include whether a user 106 that hasplaced an order is a first time customer, such as a user 106 that hasyet to place an order 116 with the service provider 102 for the deliveryof items 126. Although a first time customer does not have the sametrack record as a user 106 that frequently interacts with the serviceprovider 102, the service provider 102 may want to make a favorableimpression with that user 106. As a result, the service provider 102 mayfavor or prioritize orders 116 from new customers in order to ensurethat items 126 are of good quality and are delivered in a timely manner,which may create a positive customer experience for the user 106, andwhich may cause the user 106 to become a repeat customer and placesubsequent orders 116 with the service provider 102.

In additional embodiments, the user information 402 may include whetherthe user 106 participates in one or more loyalty programs and/orsubscription-based services associated with the service provider 102. Inparticular, if the user 106 receives some sort of value (e.g., points,credit, etc.) as a result of acquiring items via the service provider102 (e.g., a loyalty program), or receives a discount or other benefitsas a result of a subscription with the service provider 102, the serviceprovider 102 may consider that user 106 to be a good/top customer. As aresult, that user 106 may have a higher user score 118 and receivepreferential treatment with respect to the delivery of items 126. Theuser 106 may also have a higher user score 118 if he/she submits reviewsfor items provided by the service provider 102. The user score 118 maybe based on the number of reviews, the frequency of reviews, whether thereviews are helpful to other customers, whether the reviews arefavorable, and so on.

The user information 402 may also include other information associatedwith previous orders 116, such as the tipping history of the user 106and/or the extent to which the user 106 uses promotional coupons whenacquiring items from the service provider 102. If a user 106 typicallytips the merchant 110 and/or the deliverer well, then that user 106 mayhave a higher user score 118, and vice versa. In addition, if a user 106typically uses promotional coupons to receive discounts, additional freeitems, etc., the user score 118 for that user 106 may be decreased.

In additional embodiments, the user information 402 may includedemographic information associated with the users 106, and the userscores 126 may be generated based at least partly on the demographicinformation. The demographic information may include any informationassociated with the users 106, such as age, gender, ethnicity, countryof origin, physical location, home owner or renter, sexual orientation,education level, occupation, current employment status, income, maritalstatus, occupation, religion, family size, number of dependents, and soon.

Another factor illustrated in FIG. 4 is the order information 404relating to orders 118 placed by the users 106. In some embodiments, theorder information 404 may be utilized to prioritize previously receivedorders 118, generate and/or update fulfillment plans for the orders 118,and select fulfillment plans that are utilized to facilitate delivery ofthe items 126 included in the orders 116. The order information 404 mayinclude an identity of the particular items 126 that were ordered (i.e.,items ordered), the delivery time or delivery window that was providedto the user 106 that placed the order 116 (i.e., delivery time), thetype of items 126 (e.g., food items, the type of food items, etc.), thenumber of items 126 in the order 116 (i.e., number of items), the amountof time needed to prepare or provide the items 126 (i.e., preparationtime), whether any coupons or promotions are being used with respect tothe order 116 (i.e., coupons), the cost of the items 126 included in theorder 116, the price of the items 126 included in the order 116, and/orthe overall cost/price associated with the order 116.

The order information 404 may be utilized to determine the delivery timeto be provided to the user 106, the order objective 316 of the order116, and/or the fulfillment plans 118 for the order 116. For instance,with respect to the type of items 126, whether a food item is served hotor cold may impact the order objective 316 and the fulfillment plans122. For hot food items (e.g., soup) or cold food items (e.g., amilkshake), a user 106 would likely prefer to receive the delivery assoon as possible. However, for room temperature food items, such as asalad, the delivery time would likely be less urgent. Moreover, non-fooditems that are not dependent upon temperature and that are notperishable may have a later delivery time, or a longer delivery window,which may be acceptable to the user 106.

Moreover, the outcome or performance with respect to a recent order 116placed by a user 106 may influence a subsequent order 116 placed by thesame user 116. For instance, if the items 126 for a previous order 116were not delivered in a timely manner (e.g., not within the deliverywindow), or if the user 106 was displeased with the items 126 for somereason (e.g., the food items were not at an appropriate temperature),the service provider 102 may strive to ensure that subsequent orders 116satisfy, and possibly exceed, the user's 106 expectations. As a result,the service provider 102 may ensure that the items 126 for a subsequentorder 116 are of high quality and/or are delivered as soon as possible,and at least within the delivery window specified to the user 106. Theservice provider 102 may also opt to provide, to the user 106, a shorterdelivery window for delivering the items 126. That is, the serviceprovider 102 may prioritize subsequent orders 116 for that user 106 tomake sure that the user 106 does not receive another poor customerexperience, which could cause the user 106 to look elsewhere for thedelivery of items 126.

Various extraneous factors 406 may influence the delivery time, theorder objective 316 for an order 116, and/or the fulfillment plans 118for the order 116. For instance, the time of day in which the items 126are to be delivered (i.e., time of day) may be considered. For instance,for food delivery, the service provider 102 may want to ensure thatitems 126 ordered around a mealtime (e.g., lunch, dinner, etc.) are infact delivered around that mealtime. If a user 106 ordered food items126 for lunch, the service provider 102 would likely prioritize theorder 116 so the food items 126 are delivered around lunchtime (e.g.,12:00-1:00 pm), as opposed to other times (e.g., 10:30 pm, 2:00 pm,etc.) when users 106 typically do not eat lunch. Other extraneousfactors include physical distance, which may correspond to the physicaldistance between the physical location of the merchant 110 that isproviding the items 126 and the physical location in which the items 126are to be delivered to the user 106. Moreover, the weather (e.g., snow,heavy rain, extreme hot/cold temperatures) or traffic conditions (e.g.,heavy traffic due to rush hour, an accident, construction, etc.) duringdelivery may impact the estimated delivery time and the time in whichitems 126 should be picked up by the deliverer from the merchant 110.Moreover, the transportation type of the deliverer (e.g., car, bicycle,on foot, UAV, etc.) may also impact the estimated delivery time. Forinstance, delivery by car (and possibly via bicycle on foot) mayexperience traffic, whereas delivery via a UAV may not experience suchissues.

Merchant information 408 may also influence the delivery time, the orderobjective 316 for an order 116, and/or the fulfillment plans 118 for theorder 116. Examples of the merchant information 408 may include amerchant score of the merchant 110, which may indicate the quality ofthe merchant 106 and the items 126 it provides. The merchant score maybe based on user feedback, such as reviews, ratings, etc., or theexperience of the service provider 102 interacting with the merchant110. The merchant information 408 may also include the accuracy orreliability of the merchant 110 in providing items 126 to deliverers ina timely manner (e.g., percentage in which the merchant 110 providesitems 126 by the specified pick-up time). As stated above, merchantreviews may be considered, as well as item latency of the merchant 110.The item latency may correspond to the amount of time the merchant 110needs to provide the items 126, which may vary for food items. That is,some food items take longer to prepare than other food items. The numberof current orders for a merchant 110 may also be taken intoconsideration. For instance, if the merchant 110 currently has a largebacklog of orders it needs to fulfill, the delivery time for current andsubsequent orders 116 that the merchant 110 needs to fulfill may beimpacted. The merchant information 408 may also include preparationtime, which may correspond to the ability of the merchant 110 toprovide, prepare, cook, etc., items quickly.

FIG. 4 also illustrates deliverer information 410, which may includeinformation associated with the individual or entity that delivers theitems 126 to the user 106 pursuant to the selected fulfillment plan 324.The deliverer information 410 may include a deliverer score, which mayreflect the quality of the deliverer and which may be based on userreviews of the deliverer, merchant reviews of the deliverer, and/orother ratings. The availability of the deliverer may also be considered.For instance, if a particular deliverer is currently delivering items126 and/or is about to deliver additional items 126, the deliverer islikely not going to be available for other current or subsequent orders116. Moreover, the accuracy or reliability of the deliverer may impactthe delivery time that is provided to the user 106. This may be based onthe extent to which the deliverer picks up items 126 from the merchantby the specified time and/or the extent to which the deliverer deliversitems 126 to the user 106 by the specified time or within the specifieddelivery window.

In various embodiments, the systems and processes described herein mayimplement one or more algorithms, functions, or equations (e.g., alinear or non-linear function) to generate and update the user scores118, to prioritize previously received orders 116, to generate deliverytimes for the orders 116, to generate and update fulfillment plans 122for the orders 116, and/or to select a fulfillment plan 122 for an order116 (e.g., an output of the algorithm), where the selected fulfillmentplan 324 is used to facilitate delivery of the items 126 included in theorder 116 to the user 106 that placed the order 16. Moreover, thefactors illustrated in FIG. 4 may serve as variables or inputs for thealgorithm, and may be weighted. In particular, the service provider 102may utilize machine learning techniques or other techniques (e.g.,supervised learning, unsupervised learning, regression analysis,clustering analysis, etc.) to weight the inputs to the algorithm(s).That is, machine learning techniques may seek to train the algorithm(s)based on the order objectives 316 of previous and current orders 116. Byutilizing the history of prior orders 116, the inputs of thealgorithm(s) may be weighted to achieve the order objective 316 of aparticular order 116. The weights applied to the inputs are based oninformation associated with previous orders 116, since the serviceprovider 102 is aware of the inputs (e.g., order time, items 126included in the order 116, the merchant 110, the deliverer, etc.) andthe output (e.g., whether the items 126 were delivered on time or not)of the previous orders 116). As a result, provided that the serviceprovider 102 has determined the order objective 316 (e.g., minimizedelivery time, maximize likelihood of delivering items 126 on time,etc.) for a particular order 116, the service provider 102 may weigh theinputs of the algorithm(s) to maximize or increase the likelihood ofachieving the order objective 316.

FIGS. 5-8 describe example processes of facilitating the delivery ofitems to users that placed orders for the items. The example processesare described in the context of the environment of FIGS. 1-4 but are notlimited to those environments. The processes are illustrated as logicalflow graphs, each operation of which represents a sequence of operationsthat can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof.In the context of software, the operations represent computer-executableinstructions stored on one or more computer-readable media that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, perform the recited operations.Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs,objects, components, data structures, and the like that performparticular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

The computer-readable media may include non-transitory computer-readablestorage media, which may include hard drives, floppy diskettes, opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories(RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, flash memory, magnetic or optical cards,solid-state memory devices, or other types of storage media suitable forstoring electronic instructions. In addition, in some embodiments thecomputer-readable media may include a transitory computer-readablesignal (in compressed or uncompressed form). Examples ofcomputer-readable signals, whether modulated using a carrier or not,include, but are not limited to, signals that a computer system hostingor running a computer program can be configured to access, includingsignals downloaded through the Internet or other networks. Finally, theorder in which the operations are described is not intended to beconstrued as a limitation, and any number of the described operationscan be combined in any order and/or in parallel to implement theprocesses.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 500 ofgenerating user scores for users and facilitating delivery of itemsbased at least partly on the user scores. Moreover, the followingactions described with respect to FIG. 5 may be performed by the serviceprovider 102 and/or the content server(s) 114.

Block 502 illustrates determining a user score for a user. In variousembodiments, a user score 118 may be generated, maintained, and/orupdated for a user 106, where the user score 118 may be based on one ormore factors, such as previous orders 116 placed by the user 106,reviews provided by the user 106, participating in loyalty programsand/or subscription-based services associated with the service provider102, and so on.

Block 504 illustrates receiving, from a user device associated with theuser, an order that includes one or more items. In particular, the user106 may place an order 116 one or more items 126. The order 116 (e.g.,acquiring food items 126 for delivery) may be placed with the serviceprovider 102, the items 126 may be provided by a merchant 110 (e.g., arestaurant), and the items 126 (e.g., food items) may be delivered tothe user 106 by a deliverer that is associated with the service provider102.

Block 506 illustrates prioritizing the order and additional orders basedat least partly on the user score. Upon receiving the order 116, theorder 116 may be placed in an order queue 308 that includes otherpreviously received orders 116 from other users 106. Based on the userscores 118 associated with the users 106 that placed the orders 116, theservice provider 102 may prioritize the orders 116 to determine whichorders 116 is to be delivered first.

Block 508 illustrates determining an objective for the order. In variousembodiments, the service provider 102 may determine an order objective316 for the order 116, where the order objective 316 may correspond tominimizing the delivery time for the order 116 or maximizing thelikelihood that the items 126 included in the order 116 will bedelivered by the specified delivery time or within the specifieddelivery window.

Block 510 illustrates determining one or more fulfillment plans for theorder based at least partly on the objective. Based at least partly onthe order objective 316, the service provider 102 may generate one ormultiple fulfillment plans 122 for each order 116 included in the orderqueue 308. Each fulfillment plan 122 for the order 116 may specifyinformation that indicates when and how the items 126 included in theorder 116 are to be delivered to the user 106.

Block 512 illustrates selecting a fulfillment plan for the order.Moreover, based on the order objective 316, the service provider 102 mayselect a fulfillment plan 122 (e.g., selected fulfillment plan 324) thatwill be used to facilitate the delivery of the items 126 included in theorder 116.

Block 514 illustrates coordinating with the merchant that is to providethe one or more items. Upon selecting the fulfillment plan 122 for theorder 116, the service provider 102 may provide order instructions 124to the merchant 110, where the order instructions 124 may indicate whatitems 126 to prepare/provide, a time in which to prepare the items 126,a time in which the deliverer is to pick up the items 126, and so on.

Block 516 illustrates causing a delivery of the one or more items to theuser pursuant to the fulfillment plan. In various embodiments, anindividual or entity (e.g., the deliverer) may pick up the items 126from the merchant 110 and deliver the items 126 to the user 106. Thedeliverer may deliver the items 126 pursuant to the fulfillment plan 122that was selected by the service provider 102.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 600 ofgenerating and updating fulfillment plans for orders for the delivery ofitems. Moreover, the following actions described with respect to FIG. 6may be performed by the service provider 102 and/or the contentserver(s) 114.

Block 602 illustrates maintaining an order queue that includes a firstorder and a second order. As set forth above, the service provider 102may receive multiple orders 116 for the delivery of items 126 to befulfilled by merchants 110. Upon receiving the orders 116, the serviceprovider 102 may maintain the orders 116, including the first order 116and the second order 116, in an order queue 308 that is prioritizedbased at least partly on user scores 118 associated with users 106 thatplaced the orders 118.

Block 604 illustrates determining a first set of fulfillment plans forthe first order and a second set of fulfillment plans for the secondorder. For each of the orders 116 in the order queue 308, the serviceprovider 102 may generate multiple fulfillment plans 122 that each setforth variations regarding how and when the items 126 included in theorders 118 are to be delivered to users 106.

Block 606 illustrates selecting a first fulfillment plan from the firstset of fulfillment plans for the first order. Based at least partly onan order objective 316 for the first order 116 (e.g., minimize deliverytime, maximize likelihood that items 126 will be delivered on time,etc.), the service provider 102 may select a fulfillment plan 122 (i.e.,the first fulfillment plan 122) that governs the delivery of the items126 to the user 106 that placed the first order 116. The selected firstfulfillment plan 324 is determined to deliver the items 126 while alsoachieving the order objective 316 associated with the first order 116.

Block 608 illustrates causing a delivery of one or more items associatedwith the first order pursuant to the first fulfillment plan. Uponselecting the first fulfillment plan 122, the service provider 102 maycause the merchant 110 to provide the items 126 and cause the delivererto pick up the items 126 and deliver them to the user 106.

Block 610 illustrates determining that the first fulfillment planutilizes a resource also used in a second fulfillment plan of the secondset of fulfillment plans. In various embodiments, multiple fulfillmentplans 122 for different orders 116 may share common resources, such asthe first fulfillment plan 122 and the second fulfillment plan 122sharing the same deliverer (e.g., driver). As a result, while thedeliverer is delivering the items 126 to the user 106 that placed thefirst order 116, that deliverer is currently unavailable to deliver theitems 126 associated with the second order 116.

Block 612 illustrates updating the second set of fulfillment plans. As aresult of determining that the deliverer is unavailable to deliver theitems 126 associated with the second order 116, the service provider 102may update the second fulfillment plan 122 to include a differentdeliverer. Alternatively, the service provider may nullify the secondfulfillment plan 122 or wait to deliver the items 126 associated withthe second order 116 until the deliverer is finished delivering theitems 126 associated with the first order 116, and is thereforeavailable for subsequent deliveries. That is, the service provider 102may have to reallocate resources that are associated with multiplefulfillment plans 122.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 700 of managingorders for the delivery of items to users that placed the orders.Moreover, the following actions described with respect to FIG. 7 may beperformed by the service provider 102 and/or the content server(s) 114.

Block 702 illustrates receiving multiple orders within a time interval.In various embodiments, orders 116 received by the service provider 102within a particular time interval may be stored in an order queue 308.As a result, the orders 116 may be maintained in batches for the purposeof determining which orders 116 execute first. The time intervals may beof any duration (e.g., 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc.), and thetime interval may be based on a number of orders 116 received (e.g., athreshold number of orders 116) within a particular time period.

Block 704 illustrates prioritizing the multiple orders based at leastpartly on user scores associated with the multiple orders. The serviceprovider 102 may prioritize the orders 116 within the timeinterval/batch based on the user scores 118 of users 106 that placed theorders 116. The service provider 102 may also determine order objectives316 for the orders 116 within the specified time interval and thengenerate one or more fulfillment plans 122 for each of the orders 116based at least partly on the order objectives 316.

Block 706 illustrates receiving an additional offer within the timeinterval. In some embodiments, additional orders 116 may be receivedwithin the specified time interval. That is, prior to the completion ofthe time interval, an additional order 116 may be received and added tothe orders 116 that are associated with the time interval and that arestored in the order queue 308.

Block 708 illustrates updating the prioritized multiple orders toinclude the additional order based at least partly on a user scoreassociated with the additional order. Upon receiving the additionalorder 116, the orders 116 within the time interval/batch may bere-prioritized in view of the user score 118 associated with the user106 that placed the additional order 116. The fulfillment plans 122 forthe previously received orders 116 and the additional order 116 may beupdated and generated, respectively, as a result.

Block 710 illustrates causing a delivery of items associated with anorder having the highest priority. After re-prioritizing the orders 116within the batch, the service provider 102 may cause the items 126associated with the highest priority order 116 to be delivered to theuser 106 that placed that order 116.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process 800 of sharinguser scores with merchants. Moreover, the following actions describedwith respect to FIG. 8 may be performed by the service provider 102and/or the content server(s) 114.

Block 802 illustrates determining a user score for a user. As set forthherein in additional detail, the service provider 102 may determine userscores 118 for users 106 based on various types of information, such ashistorical data relating to an extent to which the users 106 interactwith the service provider 102.

Block 804 illustrates receiving, from a user device associated with theuser, an order to be fulfilled by a merchant. In various embodiments, auser may place an order 116 for items 126 to be delivered to the user106, where the merchant 110 provides the items 126, and the serviceprovider 102 receives the order 116 and facilitate the delivery of theitems 126.

Block 806 illustrates determining that the user score exceeds athreshold. In some embodiments, the service provider 102 may determinewhether the user score 118 of the user 106 meets or exceeds a threshold,where the threshold may be a value that indicates whether the user 106is a top customer of the service provider 102, and/or whether the user106 should receive favorable or preferred treatment with respect to thepreviously submitted order 116.

Block 810 illustrates providing the user score to the merchant. Providedthat the user score 118 of the user 106 meets or exceeds the threshold,the service provider 102 may elect to share the user score 118 of theuser 106 with the merchant 110 that is fulfilling the order 116.

For typical takeout and delivery services, merchant ratings aregenerally shared with customers so that customers are able to make aninformed purchasing decision. However, existing systems do not shareratings, scores, etc., of users 106 with the merchants 110 that areproviding the delivery services. By indicating that an order 116 wasplaced by a top customer, such as a customer that does a significantamount of business with the merchant 106 and/or the service provider102, the merchant 110 is able to pay particular attention to such orders116. For instance, in order to ensure that top customers, and possiblyfirst time customers, have a positive customer experience, the merchant110 may favor or give preferential treatment to those users 106 byminimizing preparation and delivery time for the ordered items 126,confirming that the orders 116 are correct/accurate, confirming thequality of the items 126 being delivered, confirming that the items 128will be delivered on time, providing additional items 126 (e.g. adessert or appetizer) as a reward for being a top customer, and so on.

In some embodiments, the service provider 102 may determine variousobjectives of a particular merchant 106, such as the merchant 110desiring customers that are loyal, repeat customers, customers that tiprelatively well, customers that infrequently request refunds (e.g.,customers with low refund rates), customers that do not typically usepromotions, coupons, or deals, etc. The user scores 118 of the users 106may indicate to the merchants 110 that certain users 106 are likely tosatisfy the objectives of the merchant 110, which may cause the merchant110 to provide better service to those customers. Moreover, for users106 that had a relatively low customer experience with respect to aprevious order 116, the merchant 110 may want to ensure that the user106 receives excellent service for subsequent orders 116. That is,although the merchant 106 may be unable to spend additional time foreach order 116 to confirm the accuracy, quality, timeliness, etc., ofthe order 116, the merchant 110 may have an incentive to perform suchchecks for top customers, new customers, and/or customers that arelikely to be repeat/loyal customers.

In some embodiments, the merchants 110 may receive user scores 118 forall users 106 that place orders 116 for items 126 to be provided by themerchant 110. The merchants 110 may elect to de-prioritize orders 116for users 106 that have relatively low user scores 118, such as userscores 118 that are below a second, different threshold. Since the lowuser scores 118 may be a result of users 106 providing poor or lowquality merchant reviews, users 106 that are typically poor tippers,users 106 that frequently use promotions, coupons, deals, etc., themerchants 110 may elect to favor and provide good service to other users106. For instance, the merchants 110 may be incentivized to provideexcellent service to users 106 that provide quality reviews, providefrequent reviews, or that provide a significant number of reviews. Sincethe extent to which a user 106 previously provided reviews may indicatea likelihood of such users 106 providing subsequent reviews formerchants 110, which may be relatively high, the merchants 110 may wantto spend additional time confirming that orders 116 for those users 106are correct and on time.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather,the specific features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms ofimplementing the claims.

1. A system comprising: one or more processors; memory; and one or morecomputer-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable bythe one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving,from a user device associated with a user and via a website or mobileapplication associated with a service provider, an order for a deliveryof food items to be provided by a restaurant merchant; providing anestimated delivery time for the delivery of the food items; aggregating,in an order queue, the order with multiple other orders for a deliveryof other food items; prioritizing the order and the multiple otherorders within the order queue based at least partly on a user scoreassociated with the user, the user score being a value that is based atleast partly on prior orders placed by the user and that is adjustedover time based at least partly on subsequent interactions by thecustomer with respect to at least one of the website or the mobileapplication; determining, using a machine learning algorithm trainedusing order objectives for previous orders, an order objective for theorder, the order objective including at least one of minimizing adelivery time for the food items or maximizing a likelihood that thefood times are to be delivered by the estimated delivery time;generating multiple fulfillment plans for the order, each of themultiple fulfillment plans specifying different plans in which the fooditems are to be delivered to a physical location associated with theuser; computing, based at least partly on multiple fulfillment planfactors, an estimated delivery time for each of the multiple fulfillmentplans; selecting, based at least partly on the order objective and theestimated delivery time for each of the multiple fulfillment plans, afulfillment plan of the multiple fulfillment plans to be used to deliverthe food items to the physical location associated with the user; andcausing, pursuant to the fulfillment plan, the food items to bedelivered to the physical location associated with the user, the causingincluding at least: sending order instructions to a merchant deviceassociated with the restaurant merchant, the order instructionsincluding at least an identity of the food items, a time in which therestaurant merchant is to begin preparing the food items, an identity ofa deliverer that is to pick up the food items, and a time in which thedeliverer is scheduled to pick up the food items; and sending deliveryinstructions to a deliverer device associated with the deliverer, thedeliver instructions including at least a physical location associatedwith the restaurant merchant, the time in which the deliverer isscheduled to pick up the food items, and the physical locationassociated with the user.
 2. The system as recited in claim 1, whereinthe operations further comprise: determining that the order and themultiple other orders are received within a time interval; receiving anadditional order within the time interval; and re-prioritizing theorder, the multiple other orders, and the additional order based atleast partly on the user score, user scores associated with users thatplaced the multiple other orders, and an additional user scoreassociated with an additional user that placed the additional order. 3.The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operations furthercomprise: determining that the user score meets or exceeds a threshold;and based at least partly on the determining that the user score meetsor exceeds the threshold, providing the user score to the merchantdevice associated with the restaurant merchant.
 4. The system as recitedin claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: determining thatthe fulfillment plan utilizes a resource; determining that a secondfulfillment plan associated with a second order of the multiple otherorders also utilizes the resource; and based at least partly on theselecting the fulfillment plan, at least one of: nullifying the secondfulfillment plan; updating the second fulfillment plan to replace theresource with a different resource; or waiting to execute the secondfulfillment plan until the resource is available.
 5. The system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the selecting the fulfillment plan is basedat least partly on the multiple fulfilment plan factors, the multiplefulfillment plan factors including order information associated with theorder, merchant information associated with the restaurant merchant,deliverer information associated with the deliverer, and one or moreextraneous factors.
 6. A method comprising: receiving, by one or morecomputing devices associated with a service provider, a first order froma first user device associated with a first user profile and a secondorder from a second user device associated with a second user profile;determining that a first user score associated with the first userprofile is greater than a second user score associated with the seconduser profile; prioritizing the first order over the second order basedat least partly on the first user score being greater than the seconduser score; computing an estimated delivery time for each of multiplefulfillment plans generated for the first order; selecting, based atleast partly on the estimated delivery time for each of the multiplefulfillment plans, a fulfillment plan of the multiple fulfillment plans;and causing, based at least partly on the fulfillment plan and deliveryinstructions sent from the service provider to a deliverer that is todeliver the one or more items, a delivery of one or more itemsassociated with the first order to a physical location associated withthe first user profile, the one or more items being provided by amerchant.
 7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprisinggenerating the first user score associated with the first user profilebased at least partly on at least one of a determination of whether auser associated with the first user profile is a first time customer ofthe service provider, previous orders associated with the first userprofile, reviews associated with the first user profile, participationin a loyalty program associated with the service provider, participationin a subscription-based service associated with the service provider, atipping history associated with the first user profile, or promotions orcoupons used in association with the first user profile.
 8. The methodas recited in claim 6, further comprising: determining an orderobjective for the first order, the order objective including at leastone of minimizing a delivery time for the one or more items ormaximizing a likelihood that the one or more items are to be deliveredby an estimated delivery time provided to a user associated with thefirst user profile; and selecting the fulfillment plan based at leastpartly on the order objective.
 9. The method as recited in claim 6,further comprising determining that the fulfillment plan includes anidentity of the deliverer, a time in which the deliverer is scheduled topick up the one or more items from the merchant, an estimated deliverytime for delivery of the one or more items, and a route between aphysical location of a merchant and the physical location associatedwith the user profile.
 10. The method as recited in claim 6, furthercomprising: determining that the first order and the second order arereceived within a time interval; receiving, from a third user deviceassociated with a third user profile, a third order within the timeinterval; and re-prioritizing the first order, the second order, and thethird order based at least partly on the first user score, the seconduser score, and a third user score associated with the third userprofile.
 11. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising:determining that the second order is received prior to the first order;and based at least partly on the first user score being greater than thesecond user score: causing delivery of the one or more items associatedwith the first order at a first time; and causing delivery of one ormore other items associated with the second order at a second time thatis subsequent to the first time.
 12. The method as recited in claim 6,further comprising: determining that the fulfillment plan utilizes aresource; determining that a second fulfillment plan associated with thesecond order also utilizes the resource; and based at least partly onthe selecting the fulfillment plan, updating the second fulfillment planby replacing the resource with a different resource.
 13. The method asrecited in claim 6, further comprising selecting the fulfillment planbased at least partly on: order information associated with the firstorder, the order information including at least one of the one or moreitems, a type of the one or more items, a number of the one or moreitems, an amount of time to prepare the one or more items, or anestimated delivery time of the one or more items; merchant informationassociated with the merchant, the merchant information including atleast one of a merchant score associated with the merchant, previousorders fulfilled by the merchant, user reviews relating to the merchant,or a current preparation latency associated with the merchant; delivererinformation associated with the deliverer, the deliverer informationincluding at least one of a deliverer score associated with thedeliverer, previous items delivered by the deliverer, or an availabilityof the deliverer; and one or more extraneous factors, the one or moreextraneous factors including at least one of a time of day in which theone or more items are scheduled to be delivered, a physical distancebetween a physical location associated with the merchant and thephysical location associated with the first user profile, weatherconditions at a time in which the one or more items are scheduled to bedelivered, traffic conditions at the time the one or more items arescheduled to be delivered, or a transportation type used by thedeliverer.
 14. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprisingproviding the first user score to the merchant.
 15. A method comprising:receiving, by one or more computing devices associated with a serviceprovider, a first order from a first user device associated with a firstuser profile and a second order from a second user device associatedwith a second user profile; determining that a first user scoreassociated with the first user profile is greater than a second userscore associated with the second user profile prioritizing the firstorder over the second order based at least partly on the first userscore being greater than the second user score; determining, using amachine learning algorithm trained using order objectives for previousorders, an order objective for the first order; generating, for thefirst order, multiple fulfillment plans to satisfy the order objective;selecting, based at least partly on the order objective, a fulfillmentplan of the multiple fulfillment plans, the fulfillment plan identifyinga merchant to provide one or more items associated with the first orderand a deliverer to deliver the one or more items; and sending, by theservice provider and to a deliver device associated with the deliverer,delivery instructions associated with the one or more items.
 16. Themethod as recited in claim 15, further comprising: causing, based atleast partly on order instructions associated with the fulfillment plan,the merchant to provide the one or more items to the deliverer; andcausing, based at least partly on the delivery instructions associatedwith the fulfillment plan, the deliverer to pick up the one or moreitems from a physical location associated with the merchant and deliverthe one or more items to a physical location associated with the firstuser profile.
 17. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprisingdetermining that the order objective for the first order includes atleast one of minimizing a delivery time for the one or more items ormaximizing a likelihood that the one or more items are to be deliveredby an estimated delivery time provided at a time in which the firstorder was received.
 18. The method as recited in claim 15, furthercomprising determining the first user score based at least partly on atleast one of: an extent to which a user associated with the first userprofile has viewed, searched for, or acquired items offered by theservice provider; or order information relating to previous ordersassociated with the first user profile, the order information includingat least one of a number of the previous orders, a frequency of theprevious orders, items included in the previous orders, a type of theitems included in the previous orders, or an amount spent for theprevious orders.
 19. The method as recited in claim 15, furthercomprising: determining an estimated delivery time for delivering theone or more items to a physical location associated with the first userprofile; receiving a third order from a third user device associatedwith a third user profile; determining that a third user scoreassociated with the third user profile is greater than the first userscore; prioritizing the third order over the first order; and updatingthe estimated delivery time for delivering the one or more items. 20.The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the one or more items arefood items and the merchant is a restaurant merchant, and furthercomprising sending order instructions to a merchant device associatedwith the merchant, the order instructions including an identity of thefood items, a time in which to begin preparing the food items, and atime in which the deliverer is scheduled to pick up the food items.